Monday, March 26, 2007

Tough Week

I'm not even sure where to begin . . . last week was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me.

I'll start with the tragedy. Last Sunday there was a suicide in our community. The person who took his life is the person from whom we bought the acreage. To make a long story short, "Warren" didn't want to sell his farm. But, he had to, due to a divorce and the reality that he couldn't continue living here and meet other financial obligations at the same time. He was living in a nearby city but was still farming with his parents, who live about a mile from our place. Part of the contract of purchase and sale of the acreage included us allowing him to store grain and machinery on our property until July 31, 2007. It was too difficult to move some of his equipment and the grain in the middle of winter, so we agreed upon this in exchange for his dad removing snow from our driveway as required for the duration of the winter.

Because of our arrangement, we actually started to get to know this family--not so much the person we bought the house from, but mostly his mom and dad. I met "Warren" only once . . . the day before he died. Wayne met him about 3 weeks ago when he was on the yard in the machine shop and needed a boost to get his semi out. Wayne had a brief conversation with him at that time, and "Warren" indicated that he had a really difficult time driving by our place without getting upset. His mom had shared with me numerous times the fact that her son was not coping well with having to move, his family break-up and everything that he had lost over the past 6 months.

My conversation with him, albeit brief, is now etched in my mind forever. There was nothing special about it. It's just the fact that I spoke to him so near to the time of his suicide that has me wondering. Our conversation consisted of introducing ourselves to each other, discussing the over-abundance of water in the yard, the bus-driver's method of dealing with the mud and water, and the fact that he planned to return the next day to move his semi-trailer off our yard and to his dad's farm. I keep thinking: "Is there anything I said that pushed him over the edge? Was it too much for him to bear knowing that another family had made his home their own?" Of course, I'll never know.

But what I do know is that his family is grieving tremendously over this event. "Warren" was only 40 years old, and he had three daughters (ages 15, 13 and 9) who live with their mother in a nearby town. He had to drive by that town every time he came to visit his parents or work on the farm with his dad. His mom told me that he found it really hard to drive by his ex-wife's town, knowing that his family was broken and could not be fixed.

All of the loss in his life became too much to bear, and so he ended it. "Warren's" aunt attends our church and she told me that "Warren's" dad is a believer, and so is his older sister. Slowly this family may all turn their lives over to Christ. The message the pastor had at the funeral very clearly outlined the path of salvation. I'm praying that souls will be won for Christ as a result of this tragedy.

Wayne and I went to visit "Warren's" parents the day before the funeral. His mom encouraged me to come for coffee sometime soon so that we could talk more. I will do that. I really feel like God is opening a door here for me and I'm actually looking forward to building a relationship with her.

Please pray for "Warren's" family. Thanks.

My week had other "downs" but I think I'll just leave it at that.

1 comment:

Susannah said...

This is such a terrible tragedy. I pray this man's family find comfort in Christ. :~)